Tracking Survival
by 1ceuponatime
Summary: The shy, the brash, and the enigmatic. A collection of oneshots in tribute to Team Eight. 06. Hinata’s in the hospital and the boys are feeling guilty.
1. Fall Asleep

Team Eight is horribly underappreciated, undeveloped, and unloved. I'm doing my own little part to change that.

Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto.

**1. Fall Asleep**

Rating/Genre: PG13 / Angst

Pairings: HinataxKiba, HinataxNaruto

Summary: She finally said how much she cared. But by the time she spoke, she was the only one awake to listen.

"Do you think it hurts to die?"

You're hurt and you're trembling and you're dripping something from your hair and your chin and it's hitting the floor and you're hitting the floor and you're lying on your back in a pool of it.

And maybe it's water, and maybe it's blood and maybe...

You're crying.

There's a weight on your chest that's making each breath empty of air, and never enough to satisfy your burning lungs. Pain never seems to hurt this much when you look back on it. Or perhaps you're feeling it for the first time.

You're cold and you're shivering and you're scared and weak and tired and-god, you're so _scared_.

You don't want to talk, you've never liked to, but if no one's saying anything how would you know if there's anything left to say?

How do you know they're not already gone?

How do you know_ you're_ not already gone?

Your vision is blurring and your eyes are clouded with pain or drugs or-who_ cares_ anymore? It doesn't matter if you can't really see because you never were any good at it.

It doesn't matter because you were never any good at seeing things anyway. Or at least the right things.

You can't see whether they finally sent someone to save you like they promised or at least put you out of your misery. You can't see a way out of this.

But you wish you had something to drive into your eyes.

Because you can see that Akamaru's not just sleeping and Kiba's going to die and in the end, who fucking cares anymore?

Who fucking cares?

Who fucking…

Who?

You do.

You can see that Shino's scared for his life behind the dark shield of his glasses and the Kikai are massing for the feast of their life.

You think the insects on his hand look like flies on a carcass, and then you realize they are and Aburame are never buried because there's nothing ever left.

"We're not going to die."

His voice is so weak you don't recognize it but you know it's Kiba because Shino would never say something so wrong.

They're going to die.

You're going to die.

Who _cares_?

And then you're laughing, really laughing, not the fake little giggle you do when you know they want you to because it's always been about pleasing them and doing things right.

You're grinning and crying and it's all so funny because it's so like Kiba to say that and it's so like Kiba to pretend Akamaru's sleeping when he's not.

He's dead.

And then you're choking on vomit and spit and blood and_ fate_.

It might be day or night but it all looks the same to you now and your eyes that make it look like a river of red is flowing from Shino's heart. You told him to duck but no one listens to you anyway.

No one ever fucking listens.

No one ever…

And it might be raining outside the cave that's your coffin and you think that's good because someone's almost crying for you. And maybe you should be worried about them; the sneaky ones with their traps and poison but you can't find enough energy to care. It doesn't really matter if they can see you or not when the whole area reeks of blood anyway.

You're cursing at them and their blood and you and your vomit and you're cursing at them because it's not like it matters.

It's not like they care.

It's not like _you_ care.

Kiba starts coughing again, and maybe you see red in the spit that lands on your face or maybe you don't because who knows whether you can see at all anymore.

"Shino's sleeping," you whisper once he's silent again.

Your voice is soft and smooth and more confident then it has ever been or should have been and Kiba is looking away from the muzzle in his lap for the first time in hours.

You see him glance at the seated figure leaning heavily against the rock wall in a slumped position of defeat. He can't see that Shino's heart is no longer beating and his blood is no longer flowing and that bugs are eating away his chakra system.

They're _eating_ him.

And you thought you couldn't see.

Stupid you.

A certain saying comes to mind, shocking you with your hidden cruelty. You guess it's just numbness or denial but you're thankful because it hurts so much less than anything else.  
_  
Don't let the bedbugs bite._

"Yeah. They're sleeping."

Kiba might be crying, he should be crying, but all he does is go back to his fallen companion, stroking the soft fur on his nose and ears.

Your neck hurts from watching him on your back and you struggle into a fetal position, vaguely recognizing the pain in your chest.

They're mocking you.

It seems only natural that fate would have you suffer the most now, after being blessed with a chance at everything.

It would have been great if you hadn't been so weak and lost it all.

You remember all the times you'd lie awake all night, wanting to fall asleep but failing like you fail at everything else, and they're mocking you and your weakness and _all you want is to die before Kiba does._

No one wants to be the last one to fall asleep.

You always are.

"Kiba-kun. I…I love you."

You don't know if it's true or not and you don't really care because all you want is to feel like you've made him happy before this ends. You don't know why you add the suffix to his name; maybe it reminds you of Naruto and the little things he could do to make you happy.

Kiba doesn't even look at you and you know that he knows you didn't mean it the way he wanted and the way it was supposed to sound and _why can't you ever get things right?_

You can't even give him a final wish.

You shut your eyes to escape your blurring vision as Kiba threads his fingers through tangled, matted fur.

It's quiet and your body burns with fire as the toxin spreads through way of your blood. It won't be much longer, but you know it will feel like forever before it all finally ends.

"Thanks Hinata."

You don't know if you heard it or if it's a merciful trick of your mind, but when you open your eyes his hand has stopped stroking and you know he's given in to sleep.

You're alone.

You're shaking.

You're crying.

You're the last one to fall asleep.

THE END

A/N: I'm looking for a beta reader for this collection. Any offers? Suggestions? Ideas? Talk to me.

July 18, 2006: Edited for annoying typo's. When I see them, they tend to bug me incessantly until they're fixed.


	2. A Sense of Smell, and Not Much Else

:Let me just tell you, I have no idea where this come from. I don't spend my time thinking of things like this. Really.:

Disclaimer: Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb. Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow.

**2. A Sense of Smell, and Not Much Else**

Rating and Genre: PG13/Comedy

Pairings: None

Summary: He really shouldn't have stuck his nose into it. Not even figuratively.

At birth, Kiba inherited a few things from his family besides the coarse brown hair and the rare, luckily fleeting, inclination to chase rabbits.

There was the aversion to cats, love for beef jerky, and the infamous Inuzuka nose.

He would tell you it wasn't always a good thing to be able to smell _everything_, especially when Uzumaki chose to skip on the showers for a couple days.

Yeah. Gross.

He got to know more than he wanted to when he smelled Shikamaru and Temari all over the academy desks on those days they needed a substitute babysitter for the kids. He was pretty sure the girl had acquired quite enough firsthand experience in her, "…study of the education methods of Konoha's school teachers."

Jeez, can you say kinky?

Anyway, it wasn't as if his sharp nose hadn't kept him alive through it all. Not all shinobi make it to the ripe old age of nineteen.

And it sure as hell had sniffed out (pun fully intended) a couple secrets along the way, from deadly poisons to- well…

It had been quite a few years ago, when he was still developing his smell and discovering its capabilities, that he'd learned something he'd rather not have known.

Despite any of his hidden insecurities at the time, blood has a very distinctive smell, that metallic scent reminiscent of copper, that he instantly recognized.

He'd picked up the faintest trace of it as he sparred leisurely with Hinata. He called it leisurely because Hinata wasn't using the Byakugan and Akamaru was busy chasing away the insects Shino was attempting to study.

Struggling to deflect a thrust at his chest, that would have incapacitated him had she been using the Jyuuken, he tentatively brought a thread of chakra to his nose.

There…

There was definitely fresh blood on Hinata.

Not a great amount, but she should have told him!

Hinata would never show she was hurting. It was her stupid clan's fault, the way they ignored her as a beautiful girl faded away.

He stepped back, hands falling to his sides.

"Hinata, are you bleeding?"

She had met his eyes in surprise, pale skin flushed from exertion.

"N-No."

"Huh." He then closed his eyes, gathering a bit more chakra into his nose. Ignoring her mutterings of protest he took a few more tentative sniffs and crouched down, leaning towards the smell.

"You are bleeding, Hinata. I can smell it. And it's coming from right here."

Kiba's voice was a bit harsher than he would have chosen, annoyed at her passive manner and his own helplessness. Not this time. He was going to learn who hurt her and they were going to feel how much it hurt him to know it.

Opening his eyes, he became painfully and acutely aware of two things.

Firstly, his face was centimeters from Hinata's pants.

Secondly, there was sound coming from Shino's mouth sounding suspiciously like a snicker.

"Oh."

An uncertain silence settled somewhere near his burning face.

"Er…I guess I'm a little too nosy, huh."

THE END

A/N: Humor is really, really hard. I'm not really happy with the ending of this but the truth is, i'm too annoyed at it to try and fix it. Shoot me. Actually, don't. Comments, suggestions, complaints, death notes?


	3. What They Call Teamwork

I realized the last two chapters were painfully Shino-deprived.

Disclaimer: I owned Naruto. And then the cow jumped over the moon.

**3. What They Call Teamwork**

Rating/Genre: G/General

Pairings: None

Summary: They need a leader, and he's not volunteering.

Shino might be the only one that sees it, that they're the only ones that really have to try.

He knows a thing or two about colonies, about teamwork and trust, because he's seen it in at its greatest. The ant will build its home with a million bodies each bearing only a single grain. They're not powerful, intelligent, or skilled, but they've colonized almost every landmass of the world. A single bee can do no significant harm, but the swarm can and will kill in defense of their hive.

He knows none of them are gifted enough to be strong on their own, but that doesn't make this any easier. They weren't put together because they would work well or because they complemented each other. Team Eight is basically the leftovers, the loners, the pariahs.

He keeps one eye on the other cells and one eye on his own and in the end has nothing more than bitterness.

Ten doesn't try to bond; it just happens the moment the teacher calls their names. He supposes that's both natural and expected. Seven is worse, because they try so hard to break themselves apart and end up closer than anyone could have predicted.

Eight just never seems to work. They are each too different, and too unique.

And it's not going to get any better, because no one's trying. He thinks they could do it, but that doesn't mean they will. They would need someone to step forward.

He isn't an ant or a bee, and he knows it. If anything he's a praying mantis; obscure, predatory, and notoriously solitary. He wouldn't sacrifice himself for the good of the team. He's part of Team Eight, but he can't feel like Team Eight is _his _team. Worst of all, he's scornful of Hinata's weakness and Kiba's overconfidence.

One's scared, the other's oblivious, and the third's reluctant. In the end, Hinata's too quiet and Kiba's too loud.

That leaves Shino, the mantis. Shino Aburame; the loner, the aberration, the _freak_.

It's an unlikely place for him, but he doesn't think he'll mind being a leader.

Just this once.

THE END

Yeah, it was really short. That might be due in part to the complete and utter lack of a plot. Oh well.

I think Shino is or should be the leader of Team Eight. Hinata's too timid and Kiba's kind of too stupid.

The Kurenai chapter just isn't materializing, so I'm not sure what the next update will be. I'm completely open to any suggestions or requests.


	4. The Point of Maturity

Now that Team 10 has had its own arc…I'm praying for Team 8's turn.

Disclaimer: I don't, and never will, own Naruto.

**4. The Point of Maturity**

Rating/Genre: G/General

Pairings: Asuma/Kurenai in the background

Summary: They haven't really had to grow up. (Post Team 10 Arc)

They had changed by the time they got back, and not a little either.

Shino saw it, like he saw everything, but he had to wonder a little whether they saw it themselves. Well, he knew Shikamaru did, whether he bothered to admit or not, but Ino and Chouji…

It was strange if you thought about it, that in the end Shikamaru was the most social of them all. It was probably because he didn't want to put in the effort of avoiding people after it happened.

Shino's never spoken with the other two actually; the teams pretty much staying with themselves. But Shikamaru had been staring at the clouds while Shino was watching the dragonflies, and both of them could appreciate company that didn't talk your ears off.

Nowadays, the air was filled with the haze of smoke and sorrowful remembrance, but otherwise things were the same.

Sometimes, they sat around for hours in a familiar, unassuming silence, the only sounds being the buzz of insects and the sound of Shikamaru exhaling a stream of smoky breath. Other times, rare times, they talked. Shino learned about go and shogi and Temari, and even a little about Asuma. He heard a lot about Ino's training and Choji's favorite foods, and the things they was planning on teaching their new baby.

It would be their baby, Team 10's inheritance. And he finds it interesting, that despite the fact that the leaders of two teams were involved; only one team seemed to be. Sure, they congratulated and mourned, and they tried their best to comfort Kurenai, but at the same time they were unconsciously distancing themselves, running from death instead of embracing it.

Shino thinks it was a good choice by Asuma, though he made sure to tell Shikamaru to stop smoking before she's born.

Shikamaru sighed, white coming from his nostrils in comical likeness of a bull.

"Yeah, I will. Don't worry Shino."

If he wanted to be mature with it, and Shino was never anything but mature, he could see that Team 10 had grown up.

And if he really wanted to act adult (figuratively, of course, because most adults he knew acted like anything but), Shino could admit that everyone else had grown up too.

There was Sasuke for Team 7 and Asuma for Team 10, people that pushed them forward whether they wanted to move or not.

He couldn't help wondering when it would happen to them.

Because everyone else was getting stronger, and Team 8 was getting left behind.

Shino said it to Shikamaru once, slightly worried at being taken for complaining, and fixed it as an offhand comment.

"We're getting left behind, aren't we?"

He responded with a long, slow exhale of smoke. They were on the roof, Shino standing and staring at the sunrise, and Shikamaru on his back with one hand behind his head and the other on a cigarette.

"Maybe. It's really because you guys haven't been hurt as badly. You've been lucky."

"It's ironic."

"Hmm?"

"The weirdest team ends up being the most normal."

"Yeah."

They were still naïve-childishly naïve. Sure, they have killed, but not in anger or for themselves. They have seen death, but they haven't felt it. They haven't lost anybody.

They could train as much as the others, more even, but they wouldn't equal them until they have something to fight for.

"Until it happens, you should enjoy life."

It was no _if_ it happens, because a naïve shinobi didn't live long.

Team 8 would grow, or they would die.

THE END

A/N: You know, that might just have been a concealed cry for a reappearance of Team 8 in the post time-skip manga.

:: Uploading again for a few really annoying typos. ::


	5. Define Team

I'm sorry for the _long_ delay. I haven't been able to think up anything for this lately.

Though I really like this one. So enjoy and hope that Team 8 does something more than sniff in the latest manga arc...

**5. Define "Team"**

Rating/Genre: G/General

Pairings: Distant Asuma/Kurenai

Summary: The when, how, and why aren't really important but they each have their own ideas about it anyway. (Set during the time-skip)

The three of them are a team now, and Kiba realizes it over sushi and soda.

This is their place; somewhere between the ramen stand and the barbeque pork buffet. They take the seats by the perpetually open window. Hinata likes the breeze, Shino the bugs, and Kiba's never smelt anything better than earth and grass and flowers on a clear spring day.

They don't really speak much. Kiba does his best to keep things lively, but his roguish personality can do only so much to the mellow Shino and the thoughtful Hinata. He found in their first months together, to his genuine disbelief, that they didn't find silence awkward but rather relaxing. It took some months more, but eventually he realized he could do the same. Most of the time.

Kurenai comes rarely- but more often she is doing paperwork, out with Asuma, or doing paperwork with Asuma (which they are sure is fairly unproductive).

So ultimately it is usually like this. Kiba eating, Shino observing, and Hinata reading.

Until Hinata places down her scroll on jyuuken techniques and says, "I'm going to do some medic training."

"Huh?" Kiba asks, his hand halfway to his open mouth. Slowly, Shino's face turns towards her determine one.

"Your father believes that becoming a medic is the soft option for kunoichi. You have not told him?" Kiba snaps his mouth shut into a frown. He didn't know that, but it does little to improve his opinion of the man.

"No. But I plan to tonight. The Hokage-sama has been saying for years that each team should have someone trained to heal." She speaks with rehearsed confidence, as if Shino is the man she both fears and respects.

Something is bothering Kiba. It is what Chouji told him last week; that Ino was going to do a bit of medical training at her father's suggestion.

"You don't have to do this. Just because Ino and Sakura- I mean, just because you're a girl…"

Shino looks in his direction. Appraisingly, Kiba thinks, though he can never be sure with those glasses. When he turns back to Hinata, Kiba does as well. Her cheeks are pink but she does not lower her gaze as she would have a year ago.

"No. It should be me. I have the best chakra control of the three of us." Hinata says the second half in a rush, as if to end her unease quickly.

There is silence for a moment, more tense than this table has come to expect. When Shino speaks it is with pleased finality.

"Of course. It makes the most sense. Your jyuuken is quite similar to healing techniques in some ways."

Shino is smiling at her and Kiba thinks he would probably see newfound respect in those hidden eyes. He's surprised, really, that Shino hadn't thought of and suggested this in the first place. He always seems to have new training methods or team formations to impress upon them.

Or perhaps he did think of it. Which makes little sense to Kiba because Hinata would have done anything they asked of her.

Then Kiba sees her satisfied, confident face and realizes something about the value of making your own decisions and the ability to speak up for oneself. When he gives Shino an appraising look this time, he reads confirmation in his face around the glasses and collar- something he could not do before.

Of course any new sense of understanding leaves quickly when Shino mentions it is his turn to pay.

Hinata giggles at the scowl on Kiba's face and the smile on Shino's. This is Team 8.

---

The three of them are a team now, and Shino admits it at the last possible moment.

He can't see through the mix of blood and sweat creating a red smear over his cracked lenses, but he senses Hinata's chakra (soft and warm) threading through his body and the pain lessens a bit.

"How is he?" he hears Kiba ask between panted breaths.

"Okay. Leave me and bring the scroll to the village," he answers for Hinata, struggling to sit up. She reaches out to help him instinctively and he does not have the strength to shrug her off. He lets her arm pull him up to stand unsteadily, despite the angry hiss from his kikaichu.

When she pulls away, he staggers and falls to his knees.

"Shino…It's too deep and you've lost too much blood. We need the Godaime," her voice is frantic, worried, and Shino is reminded of a woman with soft hands and a hazy face that he has not seen in years.

"Akamaru will carry him," Kiba sniffs the air then blanches. "There are more coming. Fast. We're going back to Konoha."

"No. We can't outrun anyone if I'm slowing you down. Besides, if I stay behind they will be forced to either slow down or split up."

He notices how Hinata's eyes keep dropping to his stomach, and he knows that kind of look cannot be good. He stops himself from glancing down.

"You have fight anyone and you're going to get killed. You think we're going to let you do that?" Kiba is angry, his fangs bared, but Shino is not fazed.

"Look we're wasting time. Kurenai's not here so I'm in charge. We have to do what's best for the mission and village, and in this case it is bringing back the scroll- which is only possible if you leave now. Without me." It's the simple truth and idiot had better use his brain for the first time in his life and realize it.

"Shino we can't just leave you here…" Shino stares at her, exasperated. She is usually smart enough to follow his suggestions.

"Yeah idiot. Akamaru can carry you back," Kiba looks around worriedly, and forcibly drags Shino onto the beast's back.

The first kunai flies a hair's width from Kiba's ear, and with a loud curse he spins to face their attackers. Hinata has activated her byakugan, and she gasps, "Nine."

_Idiots, idiots, idiots…_Shino grinds his teeth angrily and drops behind the snarling Akamaru, noticing how his legs shake simply from supporting him.

This had been an avoidable situation. Now due to their cowardly pigheadedness the village would lose three, not one, chunnin.

Despite his anger, he can't help but smile as he watches Hinata incapacitate two of their enemies with smooth jyuuken strikes, and he realizes it is pride he feels as she ignores the blood pouring down her left leg and engages a third.

Kiba's doing just as well, using the move he perfected just a week ago after extensive work with the two of them.

Shino sighs before calling to the last of kikaichu, ignoring the pain as they take all that remains of his chakra.

This was teamwork at its clichéd, unfortunate best. Dying together. With another glance at Hinata and Kiba he moves toward his first target and makes a resigned decision.

_Together. I could deal with that._

---

The three of them are a team now, and Hinata revels in every second of it.

Shino is angry with them, she can tell. He is being quieter than usual- which means he is hardly speaking at all. She thinks she knows why, and it makes her smile.

Or at least she would if her face had not been covered in so many bandages that the furthest extent of her current facial expressions is a raised eyebrow. The right one.

Kiba is a bit worse, with a fractured wrist and femur, but neither of them come close to Shino. He is swathed in so much white fabric that Hinata thinks he would not look out of place at one of her family's gatherings. (She doesn't understand why the Hyuugas insist on white robes anyway. It must make washing the clan's laundry unbearable.)

Shino is angry and Kiba is angry because Shino is angry over something so stupid, but Hinata is happy enough that she would smile if she could.

They are alive and well (or would soon be) and they are a team. They are _her_ team. This is what Ino had been saying, about when things go perfectly and everyone moves exactly right and it's as if they can read each other minds. It had been beautiful, absolutely beautiful, and Hinata at least thinks it is as amazing as any of her cousin's "genius" techniques.

True, they had very nearly died, and right now Kiba and Shino are shooting angry glares from their respective hospital beds, but Hinata is still glowing at the way they had fought off nine chunnin to jounin level ninja with Shino hurt and their chakra gone and the way everything had finally, finally worked.

In the meticulously clean, well-lit ceiling of the hospital she sees again how Kiba saved Shino's life with a perfectly thrown shuriken, and the way mushi bushin jutsu had been timed just perfectly with the jujin bushin jutsu, and this time she hadn't hesitated or frozen but rather just _moved_ the way she wanted to, just as she had so many times in training.

_Perfect_.

Kiba is growling as Shino lectures tersely about rules and necessary sacrifices and completing the mission as the first priority, but for once Hinata isn't uttering stammered compromises.

She stares at the ceiling, almost smiling, and whispers the same words again and again in her head.

_We're a team. A team. A team. A team…_

THE END


	6. Flowers for a Girl

Blah, nothing to say here. I guess I was feeling fluffy…

**6. Flowers for a Girl**

Rating/Genre: PG/General

Pairings: Kiba/Hinata, Shino/Hinata (if you want there to be)

Summary: Hinata's in the hospital and the boys are feeling guilty.

"Let's go again." Kiba is breathing in deep, gasping motions. Each inhale greets him with the thick scent of sweat and exhaustion and _guilt_.

Shino stands opposite him, his coat and jacket discarded in a rank pile behind him.

"Again," he nods and pulls weary limbs into position. And when he lunges now- for the hundredth time Kiba is seeing the missing-nin lunging at Hinata's broken, broken body and his muscles are screaming as he moves too slow.

Too slow.

A few seconds later Shino is pinning him to the ground and holding a kunai to his neck.

"You're getting tired Kiba. We're tied 54-54." Sweat drips from his face to Kiba's neck as he gets up.

Kiba grimaces, wipes his hand against the back of his neck, then sighs and figures he's never been highly concerned about hygiene anyway.

He'd take winning over being clean any day.

"Again," Kiba says shortly as he stands, ignoring his body's protest. He eyes Shino's rising and falling chest, watching for the twitch of muscles to betray his next move; a trick Hinata had shown him. Shino was doing the same.

But Hinata had never shown them how to stop the bleeding from a too-deep wound three inches from someone's heart or how to keep that someone with that wound alive for the three hours it took to find someone who could do shit about it.

They had been lucky, _god damn _lucky that Sakura had been in the scouting party they had run into. An hour more and Hinata would be lying in the dirt instead of a hospital bed. An hour more and Kiba would never have been able to live with himself. As it is, he's just barely able to.

He does in the hope that he will never let this happen again.

Because maybe he wouldn't have admitted it to himself before, and maybe he would've kept being loud and unruly and obnoxious around her to stop himself from saying what he wanted to say, but one more hour and she would have never smiled again.

So Kiba's going to move whether it's the perfect time or not, and he's going to become strong enough so this is _never_ going to happen again.

"How 'bout_…_this time the loser pays for flowers-," he breaks off as Shino's fist comes flying toward his face. He ducks and sweeps his leg out, hoping to knock Shino off his feet. The other boy leaps back, watching Kiba carefully.

"And the winner gets to give them to her," he finishes.

Shino smiles, "Deal."


End file.
